Taylor, a first-round Redskins draft pick in 2004, signed an $18 million contract with the team and was becoming one of the NFL’s top defensive players when he was slain.
Several witnesses, including Garcia Haley, testified that he liked to keep large amounts of cash around his Miami house.
One of the men charged in the slaying, 25-year-old Jason Mitchell, attended a birthday party a few weeks earlier at the house for Taylor’s half-sister, Sasha Johnson — who lived in Fort Myers and knew Rivera.
She testified that Taylor gave her a purse containing $10,000 in cash at the party, which was witnessed by all the guests.
That event put the wheels in motion for the burglary plot, witnesses said. Rivera himself testified that some in the group thought they would get between $100,000 and $200,000 to split up.
Also charged and awaiting trial are Mitchell, Charles Wardlow, 24, and 22-year-old Timothy Brown.
Jackie Garcia, Taylor’s girlfriend, who was also inside the bedroom, became noticeably upset as the detective recounted details of the slaying and rested her head on her knees in court.
She sat near several members of Taylor’s family, including his father, Florida City Police Chief Pedro Taylor, in the packed Miami-Dade County courtroom.
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